Wound Care Rehabilitation for Martorell Ulcer

Martorell ulcer is a rare, although probably underdiagnosed type of ulcer. Proper wound care rehabilitation techniques are needed to apply appropriate healing measures.

What is Martorell Ulcer?

Diagnosis of this wound is important in order to get life-saving treatment, so if someone who know has a chronic wound, it might be Martorell. Someone may have this and not know, as it doesn’t present often and is not well-known. This type of ulcer appears on the lower extremities and is only present in people who have hypertension. Chronic wounds in lower extremities are generally related to arterial periphery disease or venous disease, but not all of them are the same. Treatment for other types of ulcers may actually cause harm for a Martorell ulcer, so seeing an expert diagnostician is the first step toward wound care rehabilitation.

Diagnosing the wound

The doctor will examine the wound to notice the details that give a clue to what type of ulcer it is, since not all look the same, but one can easily be mistaken for a different one. To confirm, he’ll take a biopsy to send it to a lab. Once the diagnosis has been confirmed, the doctor can begin treatment.

Wound care for Martorell ulcer

There’s a fairly aggressive treatment plan for Martorell ulcer, which begins with an immediate change in the patient’s lifestyle habits. If they don’t change, the wound will never heal. So the first step is getting control of the diet. People who get these ulcers, aside from having hypertension, are commonly obese, which is the starting point for any vascular disease. A healthy diet is the cornerstone of any healthy living, including cutting out excess fat and sugar and adding in nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables. The second part of this is an exercise plan that fits the needs of the patients. Obese patients usually needs to being slowly, but as they lose weight and get accustomed to the plan, they will be able to increase the amount and strength of the plan.

The next part of treatment is debridement, where a clinician surgically removes dead tissue from the area, cleaning it out to allow it to heal. Surgery is a prominent part of the treatment for Martorells, and it’s often followed up with antibiotics. This will also help with any pain the patient is experiencing. A small ulcer may be heal after without any other intervention. Other ulcers may do well with skin grafts, which will also be a surgery. Once the patient has all of this in place, he can begin wound care management.

Wound care rehabilitation

This next phase of treatment moves into rehabilitation, where the patient can receive wound therapy to continue to healing process. He can be transferred to a skilled nursing facility such as Hudson View in Bergen County, New Jersey, where trained and skilled therapists can administer negative pressure wound therapy through a wound vac, which keeps the area free from air pressure and sucks out any fluid that might inhibit wound healing.

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